I didn’t think it would really work, or that it would last, but damned if it didn’t on both counts. I brought it along, showed it off to my siblings that we were camping with, and my brother asked to use it. Zap, ZAP, it worked. The kids all had to try it. My brother even touched it with his finger only to prove that two AA batteries really make a difference and are strong enough to zap your bare fingers too. He teased and was teased to try it with his tongue, gross (bug guts). The thing with an electric fly zapper is that the object of your annoyance, a flying insect just has to touch those wires while you are pressing down on the button that activates it and ZAP, they are fried! The thing people don’t realize is that you don’t have to swat it like the old-fashioned ones, merely wave it and hope to hit the bug, even marginally will put it down and then you can swat it, ZAP and actually put it out of its misery. You don’t have to bang it on the table or whatever is in the way, you can (and they have) broken the handle because of the things they hit instead of the bugs. After a while I had to replace the batteries, but it took years to have to replace the first and then the second fly zapper from over-zealous children.

Last year I was in a store and saw one, these are relatively cheap, for $5. Since they are usually around $7 or various prices (my research shows) I bought one. I’d thrown out the last one, god knows when. I didn’t open it for months from its plastic packaging. It just sat there, looking all shiny.

Well, recently I was invaded. I don’t know if they are gnats or fruit flies and I don’t know why except it’s that time of year. I don’t leave out fruit or food, and my garbage is covered so why were they so prevalent? I don’t have pets or a cat pan to attract them either. It was just annoying when they would buzz around my head or straight at me and up my nose. Especially when I’m writing! I knew they had to go! They seemed attracted to my screen on my laptop but I wasn’t swatting at that! So, I unpackaged the shiny new fly zapper and put in two AA batteries.

Now, I’m not saying I’m obsessive or anything but, that night, I went hunting. Hitting one of those buggers (pun intended) mid-flight is so satisfying. The ZAP, ZAP really does something for you when you hear it. The sight of an electric charge crackling out like lightening is pretty cool too. Occasionally I got two with one swipe! I swear, that night, I got at least eighteen of them. I knew there had to be more and carried that swatter around even after the hunt. I set up a trap by putting a bucket in the middle of the room that seemed to have the most (for reasons unknown) and they were not in my plants either (for those of you that would suggest they were laying eggs or something-gross). In this bucket I put a banana peel. It worked. Those little guys flocked to it and I must have gotten five of them by holding the zapper over the bucket and shaking it back and forth as they flew out of the bucket and directly into my screen.

When my girlfriend phoned the next morning, after a night of very little sleep between hunting and work, I said in an Elmer Fudd voice, “Be berry berry qwiet, we are huntin’ bugs!” I don’t think she was awake enough to appreciate my sense of humor.

One day while I was typing away on the computer, out of the corner of my eye I kept seeing one land on my Christmas cactus. Did you know that those fronds will set off the charge too, it was neat! Also, it will kill the ends of plants like spider plants if you zap them into the screen.

I’m not proud that I had bugs (gross), but I got rid of them in a funny way. Occasionally I’ll still see one fly by, I think they get through the mosquito screens and are looking for food or something this time of year, but when I do, I bring out my bug zapper! Btw, purely for educational purposes, I researched this and there is a rechargeable version!

If you want more interesting stories than this one, read my books! You can find them by clicking on the artwork below:

I enjoyed ‘Vetted’ so much as it was a well written story of two interesting and strong women. Alyssa had a miserable life with family members who ignored her opinions and expected her to follow the pattern of so many other girls her age and class. She has an interest in animals but has […]

I have a confession…I am a secret Trekkie. No, I don’t go around wearing pointy ears or talking Klingon. No, I have never been to any of the comic-con’s or conventions where you dress up as your favorite character(s). No, I am not a furry either (gross). I have, however, been a fan since the 1970’s of the original Star Trek show, with all of its overly dramatic, overly acted, kitschy kind of ambiance. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to see The Star Trek Movie come out back on December 6, 1979. It was one of the few things my father and I had in common that we could share, our love of Star Trek, and later our love of Star Wars. Okay, okay, I know there are those who think you shouldn’t mix the two and I’ve committed heresy by mentioning them in the same sentence, however, they all have their good points.

I am also a cinephilia, before you all get excited about that word, it means: A person with a passionate interest in cinema is called a cinephile, cinemaphile, or, informally, a moviebuff. I do collect movies and have the complete, original, tv series on VHS. I also collect other movies, including GalaxyQuest, Terminator, ET (of COURSE!), The Martian, The Arrival, The Abyss, Signs, and a host of other quaint and not-so-well-known science fiction movies. I collect a lot of other movies as well, I love romance (no surprise there), but westerns (and I mean REAL ones with John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart, Maureen O’Hara, Katherine Hepburn, and other great actors), as well as quirky and out of circulation movies. I have in my collection over 1000 movies, and, as this picture shows you, quite a display of them. Since I took this picture, I have run out of room on these shelves for all my movies, even turning them sideways. About one-third of them now are DVD’s.

I never thought I could write a science fiction story. I mean, I write romance. I write murder-mystery. I write action-adventure. I usually write a lot of drama within those genre’s. In 2011, I started a science fiction novel, I thought it would be a novella, but no, there was more to that story than even I anticipated. It would plague me for years as I watched the movies, again and again. Recently I decided to finish it. I won’t tell you what I named it, or even show you the cover I made back then, because, it would defeat the purpose of this blog, and predispose you to the point of the contest. After publishing many Prudence MacLeod novels for Shadoe Publishing, it made me realize, that yes, I CAN write a science-fiction novel, with lesbian characters, and I can make the story believable…thank you Pru for the inspiration!

And, that’s what we get to now. The point of the contest is your HELP in NAMING my science-fiction debut novel. I have the meat of the story. I have the two lovers who fall in love in space. I have the drama. I even have my synopsis, which reads: While hiking the mountains and deserts of Arizona with her best friend, D.O.G., Ryley Graham hears a whirring noise. Thinking he has cornered a rattlesnake, she rushes to protect him only to be blinded by a light seemingly coming from nowhere and everywhere simultaneously.

Waking up 510 years later, she is confused by the technology and ‘people’ that surround her. Skeptical when she is informed she is aboard a spaceship that explores wormholes, it takes a great deal of effort to finally convince her she isn’t in a government-owned facility and isn’t part of some huge experiment or conspiracy.

Adjusting to the odd lifeforms that coexist on the ship, Ryley begins to accept that she can never go back to Earth 2015, and begins to contribute her own unique knowledge and skills to their survival. As Ryley makes new friends, one of them begins to stand out….

Mercédès is half human and half android. She is struggling to understand her human side and the odd feelings she is developing for this Earthwoman.

Learning about love, and learning to love will be a huge challenge as Ryley and Mercédès begin to forge a future. What impact will it have when they discover the real reason Ryley was taken in the first place?

Now, I need YOUR help in NAMING the book! I have found the artwork that will help me when we are ready to go with this book in say 6-8 weeks, but…I thought I’d ask for help from the readers of fan-fiction who happen to enjoy science-fiction.

The winner of my last contest, Mercedes Lewis (first name only and full inflections of her name) got named in this book, so, I offer not only the possibility of the winner of NAMING this new book a chance to be named in my next book, but, I will send a paperback copy of THIS book ANYWHERE in the world (this world only, all other worlds, galaxies, and planets are excluded from this contest and if you ARE entering from any other worlds, galaxies, and planets please let me know so we can have another conversation, possibly a book deal), and, if you know anything about shipping a book out of this country, that gets expensive…so, put on your thinking caps and come up with a name for my yet, as unnamed, novel and you get to have a signed copy!

Something I would like to mention is yes, one of the main characters Mercédès is half human and half android. No, don’t think Data from The Next Generation or even Seven of Nine from Voyager and certainly not Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, think Vanessa Williams with machine parts in her beautiful body. (If you don’t know who Vanessa Williams is, um, what planet are you from?) With THAT in your fertile imaginations, please help me to get a title for my yet as unnamed novel!

This is how it works:

1) you go to MY blog and SIGN UP (it’s okay if you’re already a follower, you can qualify by signing up with the other participating blogs).

2) you go to the other blogs where you read this and SIGN UP (it’s okay if you’re already a follower, we won’t use our stun guns on you). Please, if you aren’t followers of these other blogs, sign up anyway!

3) you put in your two-cents about what YOU think the book should be named, based on the synopsis as well as what you would like to see on this cover. (Don’t worry, we won’t be reading your minds, you have to type out a response for us to consider). Just COMMENT in the comment section at the bottom of my blog!

4) Winner will be informed on the blog, all over social media, and, be named in my next book by being named a character (first name, or both…no financial compensation in any galaxy will be forthcoming for this honor).

5) Here is the cover for your inspiration:

Good luck!

~K’Anne

]]>https://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/2017/10/03/contest-name-that-book/feed/13kannemeinelMy Living Room9eeb1f10132195f3c7ee1e2e24f93f39--gifted-students-first-day-of-schoolScreen-Shot-2016-12-23-at-9.02.09-AM11956562 - man and machineTaking a Kneehttps://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/taking-a-knee/
https://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/taking-a-knee/#respondTue, 26 Sep 2017 07:55:20 +0000http://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/taking-a-knee/Mary Griggs: Sunday’s football games were eagerly anticipated by just as many people who don’t give a rat’s ass for the sport as by those who were fanatics. All across the nation (and especially in the White House), people’s heads were exploding over what football players were doing (or not doing) during…]]>

It is NOT about disrespect to our anthem. It IS about respectful protest…don’t let people, especially those in our White House, confuse you or the issues. They are attempting slight of hand and if you fall for it, you may miss the important stuff…

Sunday’s football games were eagerly anticipated by just as many people who don’t give a rat’s ass for the sport as by those who were fanatics. All across the nation (and especially in the White House), people’s heads were exploding over what football players were doing (or not doing) during the national anthem. These are the same folks, mind you, who just a few short months ago were going completely insane over the removal of monuments dedicated to people who fought a war to destroy our country.

Let me begin by making one thing clear: I am an army brat. I am from a family with a long and proud history of service in the military. I was raised on bases where everything, including traffic, stopped each night when the flag came down. I was taught respect for our nation’s flag and the proper etiquette on handling it – and…

My writing buddy Niamh Murphy is here today! I’m wiggling in my seat as I type this introduction. Niamh is super cool. She penned a lesfic novel about pirates. You can’t get much cooler than that, can you? Her novel Escape to Pirate Island is one of the novels discounted for the Fall in Love…

]]>https://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/2017/09/22/why-write-lesfic/feed/0kannemeinelPIRATE WENCHES open callhttps://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/2017/09/15/pirate-wenches-open-call/
https://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/2017/09/15/pirate-wenches-open-call/#respondFri, 15 Sep 2017 16:00:49 +0000http://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/?p=4087]]>]]>https://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/2017/09/15/pirate-wenches-open-call/feed/0kannemeinelWanted Pirate WenchesBestselling Bookhttps://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/2017/09/13/bestselling-book/
https://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/2017/09/13/bestselling-book/#respondWed, 13 Sep 2017 19:57:38 +0000http://kannemeinel.wordpress.com/?p=4068]]>There is a big difference from being an author to being a bestselling author. Whether you do it full-time or part-time, whether you are an indie or with a publishing house, being able to call yourself a bestselling author increases your credibility. But, what does it take to become a bestselling author?

Well, that actually depends on many factors. The New York Times is the most famous of these lists. There are others of course including Publishers Weekly, The Boston Globe, USA Today, The LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, and even WalMart.com. Some of the most important nowadays in the e-market are Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Using myself as an example, some of my books have been on the Top 100 Amazon Bestselling Lesbian Fiction List for weeks on end. Some, have even made it to #1 many times or remained in the top five for a while! Many of my books have been in the top 300 for ever it seems. However, I have to point out that Lesbian Fiction (Lesfic) is a small market and frequently Amazon throws in gay fiction which really should have a separate listing of its own (that’s a blog for another time). A few of my books in recent years, I didn’t even put into Lesfic because they are good stories, everyone already knows I write Lesfic, and I wanted to see how they would do in the overall Amazon ranks. They did phenomenally well. Doctored and Veil of Silence blew my mind last year with their releases back to back. They are both still selling well. This year, Vetted is proving to be a best-seller. It has never been listed a Lesfic novel, I put it into Action-Adventure and Romance…get this, in the hundreds of thousands of books that it had to compete with, it got down to the low 40’s and STAYED in that area for three SOLID weeks! That’s incredible.

What does this mean? It means that my books, due to the rankings that fluctuate hourly (thank goodness it’s a digital age), only 39 or so books sold more copies than mine did at any given time. This, competing throughout Amazon and the hundreds of thousands in those specific rankings.

The New York Times bestseller list is different. Not better or worse, just different. They do not release exactly how these books get on the list and my own research has shown some of it is by trickery, bribery, and the big five publishers. I don’t think my little lesfic publishing group will ever get one of my Lesbian Fiction books onto this anointed and prestigious list…ever. That’s okay, I know I’m writing good fiction. I know I’m writing stories that fans will want to read over and over again…and share. They will stand the test of time. Also, the New York Times list counts on ratings, based on orders to brick-and-mortar stores. If your books aren’t in these, chances are you won’t get noticed. With the downsizing of these stores, and the homophobia that still exists in major chains, the chances decline even further. One clever entrepreneur (I use that term loosely, they were con-artists if you want the real term) managed to trick the list by placing a series of orders for their book to stores that didn’t exist, calling to see if they were available, and jacking up the system…only to cancel the order a day or so later…the numbers were already reported and their book sailed up the list. Apparently, the New York Times list only counts the sales, not the canceled orders or returns.

In my research I came across this gem:

Click on the picture above for the rest of the article for more information.

Another difference that I am aware of is that the New York Times list is for paperbacks and they compile these lists weekly. Because of its electronic system, Amazon’s list is hourly. So, being on Amazon’s bestselling list is actually better! It means you are SELLING more books! Who doesn’t want to make MORE money this way? Yes, being mentioned in the New York Times with millions of readers will get you more sales and especially more prestige over time, you are, after all, building a name…but, in the end, making money is really what it comes down to. While being lauded as a New York Times bestselling author will garner you attention and I think it’s wonderful to be able to say that, there are other lists, there are other factors, and again, it comes down to money.

As the publishing world changes, and let’s face it, whether you love Amazon or B&N or a bajillion other outlets (mine are available on almost all of these), the e-book has changed the way we authors and publishers do business. I am sad to see bookstores closing, I really am. I still remember standing in the middle of a Barnes & Noble in San Luis Obispo, California and just BREATHING in the atmosphere. I hope that libraries stay open and applaud the fact that they lend books that are e-books now too.

Another thing that I found as I researched for this blog is that literary agents, publishers, and others when looking for the next ‘rock star’ of the literary world are now sitting up and taking notice of those independent publishers and authors, and finding those ‘bestselling’ authors this way. They want a piece of the pie, they don’t want to be left behind in the ‘old’ ways anymore. They want to help those selling well to sell even more…so they can take their cut with their expertise.

I rely on proof, I have seen those hawking a book as a ‘must-read’ and I cringe at that. That phrase alone is like nails down a chalkboard for me. My first thought when I hear it is WHY MUST I? I would rather hear from their reviews, their reviewers, or the proof that shows the book is selling well. Here is my screen shot of Vetted taken the other day:

Don’t just take my word for it…really, I am the author and publisher, I’ll admit to being biased…but, since it’s selling so well, maybe you should just go find out yourself WHY?

Click on the picture to be taken to Amazon.

As always, you can get ALL the links at my website, or download it FROM my website at www.kannemeinel.com.

After the success of her books, ‘Doctored’, ‘Lawyered’, ‘Small Town Angel’, ‘Veil of Silence’ and many others, author K’Anne Meinel has announced the launch of her latest book ‘Vetted’ on Amazon.com. The book has already started to receive great response from the readers. “loved the scene in the cafe where the two main characters entered into their partnership, and, how their love turned into something that would surely stand the test of time. Personally, there’s nothing sexier than a barefoot gal in shorts, and a tee, with a rifle over her shoulder, a pistol strapped to her waist and the willingness to use both to protect those and the things she loves. Great story. Highly recommended”, says one of the users on Amazon.com.

Vetted brings much delight to fiction and drama book lovers who love a bit of adventure. The story revolves around Alyssa, a young college student living her life to please her upper-crust family who wants her to take business courses to join her father’s business and marry the right man. However, Alyssa wants to do something different and take a course that speaks to her heart but her family is unwilling to support her in doing that. The story follows the life of Alyssa, a woman born into a well-to-do family yet yearning for freedom to do what she wants to do because such wealth comes with strings that she doesn’t want.

Fiona is another lead character in the story who is an older, established woman and a veterinarian working with an aim to start her own animal practice. The story takes a swift turn when a young woman arrives at her doorstep one night carrying a dog she may have fatally injured with her car, leaving Fiona thrown for a loop.

Vetted is an unexpected story about two women who goes through a life that they did not anticipate but learn that they wanted it desperately. The story description surely leaves the readers wanting for more and picking up the book to see what the whole suspense was about. Will their families, the fates, and rustlers finally bring these women to their knees? The only way they can survive is to stand strong together, but are they both ready to fight for what they want? Only time will tell”. The author known for her intriguing and sensuous plots in her books brings another exciting book for the readers.

About Author- Author K’Anne Meinel is a bestselling author, having over 92 published works including novels, short stories, and novellas. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and raised in Oconomowoc. She reflects the love for her home state in her stories by mentioning the beautiful and realistic backgrounds set in Wisconsin. She is also known as the lesbian Danielle Steel of her time and a versatile writer who brings a variety of fiction genre books.

Customer reviews

Top customer reviews

Really enjoyed this book, couldn’t put it down and read it in one night.

I could relate to Alyssa on so many levels and wished so many times growing up that I had the nerve to stand up to my family in the way that she did.

No idea what I’m talking about, well then you’re just going to need to read the book for yourself!

Fiona reminds me of the vet’s I worked for whilst studying in the UK, strong, independent, determined and workaholics!

If you enjoy reading about strong female characters who overcome various obstacles and adversities thrown their way then this is definitely the book for you.

The characters are well developed, the storyline flows naturally with no unnecessary sex scenes, there’s romance and intimacy as needed but not heaped on as is the case with some f/f books these days. There’s plenty of drama and gun toting city girls turned country vet / cow girl to keep you reading all night as I did.

I loved the scene in the cafe where the two main characters entered into their partnership, and, how their love turned into something that would surely stand the test of time. Personally, there’s nothing sexier than a barefoot gal in shorts, and a tee, with a rifle over her shoulder, a pistol strapped to her waist and the willingness to use both to protect those, and the things she loves. Great story. Highly recommend!!

I bought this cause I liked the cover, well I have to say what a great read, makes you laugh in places, the two main characters have excellent chemistry, even as good action and I’m not talking about sex. All in all I have no problem recommending this book too my friends. Another great story from K’Anne.

Characters are very real and easy to see in the mind’s eye. The families are similar to my own as is the finding the one person that will stand by you no matter what. Well written. Makes for a lovely evening with a bottle of wine.

I really loved reading this book! At first I wasn’t sure about the main character, she seemed very spoiled, but as I began to read the story I began to like both of the characters. The author does a great job of telling their story and she doesn’t follow a predictable path with the plot. It is refreshing to find a story that is a little different and keeps you guessing about what might happen next. I really liked this story!